It's late, and I keep promising to write reviews. I've just finished
this one. And it's a very good book. More coming.

my review of the ECHO of OLD BOOKS by Barbara Davis

This is the only book I've read by the author. It is mostly a tale of a
love story told by "Belle" (Marian) and "Hemi" (Hugh) through two books,
a pair of diary-like letters they wrote to each other. The letters are
discovered by a fellow named Ethan when he is clearing out books from
his father's place. Ethan delivers these to Ashlyn, a bookseller of old
books. How these books ended up in his father's place is one of the
mysteries that eventually get revealed.

Historical fiction, Barbara Davis's book covers the mid 30's to the late
80's, three generations. The locations are New York, NY, Massachusetts
and New Hampshire.

There is no author attributed to either of these two books and tracking
down who wrote them becomes Ashlyn and Ethan's passion. We eventually
learn the author of "Forever and Other Lies," Belle's take on the
relationship she had with Hemi, is Ethan's great aunt. Hemi is the
author of "Regretting Belle," his take on the relationship.

Hemi is a journalist who has come from London to write a story on
Belle's dad Martin. He (Martin) is a Nazi sympathizer. When Helene,
Martin's wife, becomes ill, she is put in a convalescent home only to
die under mysterious circumstances. Her Jewish heritage was an anathema
to him.

Marian is engaged to Teddy, an arranged marriage. Hugh somehow gets
invited to her engagement party. He finds Teddy to be a boor. He chats
with Marian and is clearly attracted. Later, they visit her horses, go
on picnics. She is under pressure to marry Teddy and will be the
beneficiary of her father's and his wealth. But she wants a very
different life. Hugh tells her she could do much better than throw away
her life by allowing her father to tell her what she should do.

When Helene dies, Marian's sister Corinne (Cee-Cee) takes on the role
her mother once had. Her marriage was also arranged. She tells Marian
she must play by the rules and marry Teddy. She becomes jealous of her
sister. (Spoiler: What Cee-Cee does much later in the story has a
devastating effect on her sister.)

The novel flips between Ethan and Ashlyn's efforts to discover what
happened to Belle and Hemi by reading their two books and the text of
the books itself. It's clear things will not end well. Both Belle and
Hemi realize what they are doing is dangerous. Hemi is working on a
story about Martin that will reveal several things he's done that will
ruin him and Belle is risking losing a comfortable life by being with
Hemi.

Pearl Harbor occurs on December 7th, 1941. Roosevelt declares war on
Japan and Germany. Martin's business friends want nothing to do with
Europe. Belle (Marian) has not been following politics, something Hemi
(Hugh) calls her on.

(Spoiler:) Things all come to a head when an article is published by the
paper Hugh works for that reveals how complicit Martin has been in the
death of his wife. But ... the author of the article ends up not being
Hugh but a fellow name Schwab who "Goldie," their boss, hired when Hugh
quit. Marian does not know this until much later.

As I read the "dueling diaries," I kept hoping they would resolve their
differences. They are on again, off again, on again, off again. Davis is
a very skilled story teller and you have to read to the very end to
learn what happens. When you are convinced things might work out, you
learn about Zachary, Marian's "adopted" son. And are now sure things
won't work out.

The parallel story of Ethan and Ashlyn is threaded into this incredible
tale. Both he and she have had terrible experiences in their past and
this has prevented them from becoming close. You are encouraged to read
this wonderful book to find out what happens.